Summer hears her father's voice telling her to listen, and she knows she has to give it to him. Anything to stop this disease from taking more lives. “Give me a minute, and I will look for it.” She steps into her bedroom and grabs the bag with her book. When she turns around, she finds him waiting for her at the door to her room. Fear fills her mind, she is alone with him, and it is terrifying.
He steps into her space and takes the leather-bound book from her. He runs a finger down her cheek and smiles, “Thank you. You have made the right choice.” She turns her face away from his touch, and he walks to the door before opening the journal.
“I was merely working to steal your Father’s journals, but this is so much better.” Summer backs away from him in revulsion. “They progressed much faster than they should have. Your family went to stage four in eight hours! That has never been heard of before.” His eyes are large with excitement. “Don’t worry, with Protocol two, I will stop the spread. Your family did not die in vain.”
“You are a monster!” Summer runs screaming at him, and he backhands her. The slap rings out in the silent room. She falls to the floor, dazed for a moment. Jung smooths back his now messy hair.
“You need to learn your place, Miss Denning!” When he turns to leave her voice stops him cold.
“It was the candy wasn't it?” She groans and pulls herself to her feet. Her jaw is swollen, and lip split and when she wipes her hand across her mouth her blood covers her fingers. “That's how you infected my family? I saw the syringes in your room. Why? So you could be a hero!” She screams at him.
“Summer,” he smiles, “You’re a crafty one. I merely created candies and dipped them in the venom of an infected patient. You must understand, theories must be tested. One group was tested with the venom and another group with infected blood. I never dreamed it would strike so quickly. You appear to be resistant to it.”
“You are disgusting! You’ll never get away with this, Alberto,” she glares at him, and he steps back from her shocked that she knows his secrets.
With a swipe to her swollen face, she holds up her bloody hand. “You’ve done it now, Alberto. Blood, fluids and any contaminated surface. The virus can live, and it can move through the very air itself. That is what Protocol two suggests. Now, you will find out for yourself. The immune are not immune to every change the disease makes.” Summer climbs to her feet and faces him, smiling. Jung backs away from her and heads to the cabin door.
“You are looking feverish to me, Miss Denning, even frantic after the loss of your family.” He knocks on the door and it opens. A crew of men step inside, “Miss Denning needs to be escorted to the infected wing. Burn everything else. The furniture, sheets, bedding, all her personal effects, everything.”
Summer picks up her bag with her papers and walks slowly to the door. “Don’t forget your fairytale’s, Miss Denning.” He laughs as she picks up the worn leather book. Two men escort her to the third deck of the ship where the sick and dying await their fate. She is pushed towards the door and they step back and wait for her to enter.
“Please, can’t you help me?”
“We are three days from Boston, ma’am.” One of the crew members tells her as they pass down the empty hallways. “Dr. Rudolph is setting up a quarantine hospital for all the sick and infected. You will be fine.” She doesn’t bother to beg or plead because fear is ripe on the ship. Those who are immune, are praying to stay so.
When the door to the quarantine section opens, the smell of the sick and infected washes over Summer and she knows nothing ever will be fine again. Over the next few days, the dead are wrapped in sheets and left for the crew to retrieve and she helps to nurse the sick. The whispers spread of the number of dead and so far out of the seven hundred twenty-four people on board two hundred and three are dead by the time they reach Boston. The bodies are tossed overboard for the sea to claim. Of the five hundred left, hundreds are infected.
Dr. Jung Rudolph takes control from the captain, and the ship is held in port for two days before they are moved to a hospital on an island nearby. He consults with a team of doctors from Boston and orders a ferry to handle the sick. Those able to walk are crowded together on the decks and moved to the quarantine zone at night, to prevent panic. Summer looks for Dr. Rudolph but does not see him as she is moved from the ship. A total of four hundred eighteen people are transferred to a makeshift tent hospital where they are examined and separated into groups.
For the first time ever, Dr. Rudolph is given the respect he thinks he deserves. He does not stay, but simply snaps out orders for those who work under him. The infected stay at the hospital, while the women and children who are not sick yet are placed in temporary housing.
Women and children are separated from the men in crowded tent camps on different sides of the island. Summer glances around in shock at the unsanitary conditions. The smells of death, vomit, and human waste is thick in the air
“This is not respectable,” she hears another young woman call out.
“You can complain if you are
